Travel & Lifestyle

Beautiful Bali – Wanderlands Tour

Wanderlands Travel Tour:
I had never traveled by myself before and being slightly nervous I decided to book myself into a tour with a company called Wanderlands, so I would never really be fully by myself. I saw them being advertised on Facebook and Instagram and after looking into some reviews I decided to bite the bullet and go for it…RESULT =best decision ever, I literally had the time of my life!!

Not only are all the places you see AMAZING but I thought the tour was so well organised. You receive your itinerary before the trip and it was so nice to not have to plan anything, everything was done for you, we were even picked up at the airport! (the tour includes all admission/entrance fees, accommodation and transport!) I had Ryan as my tour guide who was great and we were kept really busy with a jam packed schedule yet there was still a bit of free time in the evenings before dinner which was nice. The tour is aimed at 18-30 year olds so everyone there is young and all up for the craic! You’re all there for the same reason so straight away you’ve something in common! The tour cost me around €570 for the 8 day Bali tour although it’s really only 6 days of full activities (no activities on day of arrival or departure). I went through about €500 spending money while I was there on top of the tour cost. Overall the tour experience was amazing, it was so liberating and I met some really great people from all over the world and had so much fun. I would 100% book another trip with Wanderlands again and definitely would recommend them to everyone.

Ok so now for the actual places we went..

Kuta: we flew into Denpasar airport so Kuta is the nearest city. I was a bit shocked when I arrived, it’s so commercialised and touristy! I was not expecting to see a Jamie’s Italian or a Bubba Gump restaurant! I would not recommend to stay here for long as you’re not experiencing authentic Bali. We did do surf lessons one of the days which was so much fun! Kuta does have some great waves which are perfect for beginners ( if you’re big into surfing I’m sure there’s better beaches!) but it was absolutely perfect for us!

Seminyak : not too far from Kuta, La Plancha beach in Seminyak is beautiful for sunsets. There’s lots of bean bags and beach bars along the beach so it’s a great place to chill, hang out and watch the sunset!

Temples:

Balinese people follow the Hindu faith but the temples weren’t what I was expecting at all! (I think I was expecting more Buddhist like temples in my head!) Hindu’s live a very simple life and this is reflected in their temples. They are nothing fancy literally just a walled enclosure, no gold or fancy art! Balinese temples are more about the setting and scenery they are built in rather than the temples themselves so bare that in mind if your going!

Tanah Lot : is a temple out in the ocean. At low tide you can walk to it however it was high tide when we were there. It’s pretty cool and interesting to see

Uluwatu: this temple is located on stunning cliffs! The scenery is beautiful. Sunset here is gorgeous but watch out for the monkeys! Make sure not to have sunglasses or water bottles with you as they’ll take anything they can!

Ubud: this was one of my favourite places and was exactly what I had imagined Bali would be like. It’s really pretty and there is so much to do here..

The Sacred Monkey Sanctuary – worth a trip but completely changed my opinion of monkeys..they are definitely not cute! You can buy bananas to feed them for like 20000 rupiahs. When we were there the monkeys were so aggressive and 2 people got bitten while I nearly got attacked…Nice to experience it but I wouldn’t bother feeding them I don’t think it’s even worth the instagram photo!

Coffee plantation – whether you’re an avid coffee drinker or not a coffee plantation is definitely worth a visit. We went to Manik Abian plantation and it’s so fascinating to learn how the coffee is made! I genuinely had no idea they collect the beans from Luwak poo… It does make for great coffee though! We got to sample lots of different kinds including sweet potatoe coffee (which was actually delicious) as well as some of the most expensive coffee in the world.

Mount Batur – this volcano is still considered active and again the scenery and views are just stunning! Well worth a visit even if you don’t climb it! The sunrise climb is supposed to be amazing, you need a guide to do it but definitely worth doing! ( I was so annoyed I didn’t have enough time!)

Rice Terraces: we went to the Tegalalang UNESCO rice terraces which are definitely worth going to. The scenery is beautiful and they’re lovely to walk around and see the different stages of farming rice and the paddy fields. It’s definitely a very photogenic place!

Tegenungan Waterfall: this waterfall is beautiful! Definitely worth climbing down all the steps to get to it and you can bath in underneath it!

Gili Islands:

The Gili Islands are amazing! We stayed on Gili Trawangan which is so buzzy I loved the vibe there and it’s so fun at night time! Make sure to go to Jiggys they always have promotions on and the alcohol is so cheap! Gili T is so nice to cycle around and of course getting a picture with the famous swings in the water is mandatory! WARNING : they are so much harder to get on then they look… instagram makes it look so easy! But definitely worth attempting especially at sunset!

Snorkelling around the Gili Islands is also brilliant. We snorkelled around Gili Air and Gili Meno and managed to spot a turtle which was amazing! Although we did spend about 2 hours trying to chase it around to get a closer look.

I felt very safe most of the time in Bali although Kuta changes a bit at night so you do have to be careful and it’s notorious for pickpockets! Ubud is amazing as are the Gili Islands, overall it’s a really beautiful island and should definitely be one of the Indonesian islands on your bucket list!